Till We All Fall Down
by Tantilla
Summary: Can family bonds stand the test of time?


There were fewer things in life that could break someone's soul faster than the feeling of being completely and utterly alone in the world.

That feeling had always been there for Dipsy. For as long as he could remember, the feeling that he and the others were alone in the world. Never had he seen any other creatures that looked anything like them, at least not that he could remember. He had been on earth from such a young age, any thoughts of home had been long forgotten, or perhaps they hardly even registered in his mind. At such a young age this was hardly anything bad. It gave him a sense of freedom and urged him to explore everything he could since the restraints of parents or guardians did not apply to him.

What kind of crule creatures his species had to be to leave toddlers in an unknown world to fend for themselves. Dipsy tried not to dwell on these thoughts to often, but the questions still plagued his mind. Did this abandonment have a purpose, or were they simply unwanted children who had managed to survive far longer than their creators ever imagined they would. Neither thought comforted him.

The moment when self awareness hits. It can be one of the most terrifying things you can experience, or at least that's how it was for Dipsy. He realized that he was alive, that things could hurt him. He could die, and if he did he wasn't coming back. The realization lasted for only a brief moment, but it left a long impacting mark in his mind. It kept him awake at night for a long time after that because he was afraid that if he went to sleep, he wouldn't wake up.

Luckily for him, Tinky-Winky had gone through his own realizations a few years back. Dipsy had often complained when Tinky-Winky would make him do something and used his older age as a way to get what he wanted, but sometimes he found that he didn't mind only being second oldest. He had someone to go to for advice when he needed it, or at least better comfort than Lala or Po could offer him. Most of the time Tinky-Winky had little to say on whatever subject that Dipsy came to him with, but he listened and that was what mattered. He remembered staying awake hours after both of the girls were asleep just talking about whatever had been on his mind at the time. Sometimes they didn't even talk, but they simply relished in the fact that they had each other, that they WEREN'T completely alone in the universe.

Thats really what hurt the most though, the absence of those comforting talks and cuddles that he had with the others whenever he needed it. When he had a hard day and all he wanted was to curl up with one of the other telletubbies, but he couldn't because they were all gone, off on their own adventures without him. It was Tinky-Winky's fault of course. He left first, abandoned all of them in search for some greater purpose than wandering around in the fields we had called our home for so many years. Dipsy couldn't really blame him for that, but that doesn't mean he didn't resent him. Tinky-Winky had always been their leader, always taken care of them and provided the most support for their family. Dipsy wasn't ready to be any kind of leader when he left. Trying to explain what was going on to Lala and Po was a nightmare, and he didn't think they ever really understood why Tinky-Winky left when he did.

Po and Lala stayed for a few years after that, but it was never the same. They grew apart, distanced themselves from each other, before finally Lala left. Dipsy and Po never really questioned where or why she had gone. After a few days Dipsy simply stopped making breakfast for her, and Po seemed to understand that she was gone. Po left shortly after that, and for the first time in his life, Dipsy was completely, and utterly alone.

To say that he didn't wait for them would be a lie. He hoped that he would wake up one day and find that all, or any of his siblings had returned to him, but of course they never did. They were all off living their lives while Dispy remained trapped in the idea that he needed to stay there in case any of the other telletubbies would return, and that he would need to be there for them.

Dispy waited for four years. It was a long, and lonely life. He kept himself busy by wandering the fields he knew by heart, and talking to young children that would connect to him through the screen on his stomach. That didn't last forever though, as the children he considered his only friends grew older and their minds wandered to other things. In the end, every single one of them stopped connecting with him, and he was left to himself once again.

Dipsy grew as well. He had been such a young child when his family had left him, and during his years in waiting he grew up, matured a bit. Humans had always seemed small to him, but now he towered over them. He easily frightened away any normal human that wandered in to his fields, and had more than once destroyed the vehicles of scientists that had come to study him. 'Self defense' he told himself. He had heard what the first group of scientists planned to do to him, and he was not about to sit back and let himself become some guinepig for some human's experiment. Sometimes he remembered just how fond of humans Tinky-Winky had been, and he knew he would disapprove of Dipsy acting so hostile towards them, but Dipsy always shook his head and buried any thoughts of his brother that he had. He hated him now, hated him for leaving him alone and making him feel so empty.

In the end Dipsy was driven away from his childhood home. Not by any humans mind you, but simply because his living situation had become unbearable. His home was now to small for him, and his supply of tubby-custard was running dangerously low. He would need to find a new source of food, as well as a place to stay very quickly. He had left in the night and followed his instincts. Despite his size compared to the humans, he found out rather quickly that he was excellent at hiding. He traveled far from his home, deciding that if he was going to leave, he wanted to be far from the painful memories that he had gathered over the years. He traveled by hitchhiking for the most part, hiding in the backs of large trucks as he searched for the perfect place to call home.

Dipsy traveled around for almost a year, continuing to grow as he reached the peak of his maturity. Fianlly, when it started getting cold outside and he began to have trouble catching trucks to travle on, he decided on a home. He had made his way in to a large city and claimed an abandoned warehouse as his home. It was cold and uncomfortable at first, but he formed his home there. He decorated as he pleased and filled it with fruits that he had found he enjoyed eating. It was nothing like the fields he had loved when he was little, but it was home now.

Humans did eventually wander in to his home, but these were different than any he had ever met they seemed to worship him, believing he was some kind of deity incarnate or something. Dipsy liked these humans, because they brought him food and never threatened to cut him open for research purposes. At first it was a few, but with time he had a small army bringing him food and doing what he needed them to. It was nice, and it made him feel better about his situation.

However he suspected that it was these very humans that had been helping him that also brought his brother back in to his life. Over a million humans on earth, information about an alien's wear-abouts could travel incredibly quickly if the right people were discussing it.

Dipsy had been out in the town during the night, rummaging around for larger things that would have been easier to get for himself rather than having humans fetch it for him. He did not trust humans to get him things he would actually enjoy decorating his home with anyway. He came home to the sight of Tinky-Winky rummaging through his belongings, tasting some of the fruits and keeping himself busy while he waited for Dipsy to get home. Dipsy said nothing at first, simply going about his business and putting his newly acquired decoration in its proper spot, dropping it rather loudly to get Tinky-Winky's attention. The purple telletubbie's ears twitched, and he glanced over his shoulder at Dipsy. It was a habit that he had developed shortly before he had left all of those years ago. If he was disappointed in any of them, particularly Dipsy, he wouldn't look directly at them. Dipsy was apparently the only one who ever caught him glancing at them though.

Dipsy stared at him, openly glaring and just waiting for Tinky-Winky to say something to him. Tinky-Winky had never been a particularly hostile being, even in the days leading up to his departure, but Dipsy could just feel that he was in for a scolding, like he had actually done something wrong. He growled to himself and kicked at the dirt on the ground, averting his eyes.

"Unless you came here to apologize, you can just go." He muttered, glancing up at Tinky-Winky for a brief moment. Tinky-Winky shook his head and finally turned around, making his way over to Dipsy. Dipsy was a bit surprised to find out that they had actually evened out in size. He had been so used to being shorter than Tinky-Winky, but now they were nearly the same, and honestly if anyone was taller, it may have been Dipsy.

"I have nothing to apologize for, I don't know what your talking about." Tinky-Winky said.

Dipsy growled louder now, standing up straighter and puffing out his chest a bit. "Nothing to apologize for? How narrow-minded are you? Do you have any idea what you put Lala and Po through? What you put _me_ through?"

Tinky-Winky kept calm, leaning against a wall and crossing his arm. "I am well aware of what Lala and Po have been through, _they_ came to see me when they left home. _They_ sought me out. How long have _you_ been away from the fields? Have you even tried to find any of us?"

"Why would I want to find you guys if you left me like I was nothing?" Dipsy asked.

"Because we are your family Dipsy!" Tinky-Winky snapped.

"You don't abandon family!"

Tinky-Winky glared at him, not moving from his spot for a moment before he finally sighed and shook his head. "I never abandoned you Dipsy. You or the girls. You know I could never do that to you guys." He said.

"You up and left one day and we never heard a word from you again. Not through visits, not through letter. I don't know what your definition of abandonment is, but that's certainly mine." Dipsy said, pushing past Tinky-Winky and heading over to where he had set up his bed. It was his favorite spot in his whole home. Honestly he found it more comfortable than the one he had back when he lived in the fields with the others.

Tinky-Winky followed Dipsy, grabbing his arm and yanking him back away from the bed. He pressed his face close to Dipsy's growling lowly in his throat in a threatening manor. "Well here I am, so don't you dare walk away from me. What do you want me to say? I'm sorry for leaving and trying to make something out of my life? I'm sorry for not imprisoning myself in those fields for years and years, because I wanted something more out of my sad excuse for an existence?! Well you're not going to get it, because I'm _not_ sorry Dipsy. I never regretted leaving, and I _never_ will."

Dipsy snarled and shoved Tinky-Winky away, reeling his fist back and slugging Tinky-Winky in the jaw. He didn't know what came over him; perhaps it was all the sadness and rage he had began to harbor for his brother over the years, or perhaps it was simply how Tinky-Winky was talking down to him now of all times. He had always hoped that he would be able to meet his brother again under different, happier circumstances, but deep down he had always known it would go like this. Now he stared at his older brother as he stumbled back, falling back on his ass and holding his jaw where Dipsy had hit him.

As much as Dipsy wanted to hit him again, he held back and stood his ground. He shook out his hand and approached Tinky-Winky. He stood over him, staring down at him.

"You may not regret leaving, but I will make you regret coming back to face me after all these years. Why now? What do you want from me Tinky?" Dipsy asked, though not with as much hostility as before. He just sounded tired.

Tinky-Winky sat there rubbing his cheek for a moment, glaring up at Dipsy before he finally sighed and looked down at the ground. "I need your help Dipsy. Trust me, your the last person I wanted to ask, but you're the only one left I can turn to..."

Dipsy almost scoffed at that, shaking his head in shock and thought about what Tinky-Winky had said. "...You need my help? What could you possibly want from me? I have nothing to offer you, at least nothing I would be willing to give you.."

"I need you to help me take down some humans." Tinky-Winky continued, tapping his foot on the cold ground nervously and glaring up at Dipsy when he gave a mocking laugh.

"Take down some humans? What happened to the whole 'never hurt the humans' philosophy you had?" Dipsy shook his head and turned away from him, crawling on to his bed. He didn't even bother to offer a hand to his brother.

"They have Lala." Tinky-Winky said, cold and blunt.

A silence fell over the two of them when that was said. Dipsy stared down at the bed, having trouble imagining his sister in the clutches of some nasty humans, probably scientist. They had been being hunted ever since their presence on earth had discovered so many years ago, but somehow they had always managed to evade them.

Dipsy tried to think of anything to say to that. His first instinct was to think of a way for him to get out of this, to avoid having to do anything to help in this situation, but he quietly scolded himself and shook his head. He would be the worlds biggest hypocrite if he even began to think like that. La-La needed him, and he would be damned if he was going to let her rot in the clutches of human hands. He glanced over his shoulder at Tinky-Winky, who was patiently waiting for Dipsy's response, and clenched his fist. He would also be damned if he was going to let Tinky get away with what he did, and he knew that if he said no now, he might not ever see Tinky-Winky again. If nothing else, Dipsy needed Tinky-Winky around to get back at him for all the heart-ache he had felt over the years because of him.

Finally Dipsy let out a loud sigh through his nose and turned around to face Tinky-Winky. He was going to say something, but just the way Tinky-Winky was looking at him, just watching him with tired eyes, it made something inside him break and all he could do was stare back, nearly shaking in his spot.

"...You've changed so much Dipsy...You didn't used to have all this...this hatred in you." Tinky-Winky muttered quietly, just loud enough for Dipsy to hear. "It's horrible..."

Dipsy scoffed and shook his head. "I know it is. Glad you care." He said sarcastically before going across the area to a large box where he kept his most valuables. "I don't hate anything. Not you, not Po or La-La, which is why I'm going to help you."

The tension in the air around them lessoned a bit, and Dipsy was glad for that at least, but he still had serious doubt about how well he would be able to work with Tinky-Winky in a rescue mission for their sister. Tinky-Winky had always been the leader, but Dipsy wasn't so willing to go blindly following Tinky-Winky in to unknown territory. He knew he might have to though, and the thought honestly scared him a bit.

After a minute of digging in his trunk to no avail, Tinky-Winky tapped Dipsy on the shoulder, and when Dipsy looked up at him, Tinky-Winky held out the cow pattern hat that he so loved. It was a memento from his childhood, and he always kept it safe in his trunk when he wasn't wearing it. He felt a bit relived to see that it was safe, but he figured that Tinky-Winky had gone digging through his personal trunk while he was waiting around for Dipsy to get back, and he hadn't returned it to its proper place. He growled and yanked the hat away, setting it over his antenna like he did when he was just a toddler.

"Dipsy hat, don't touch." He hissed. Tinky-Winky smiled and reached up to adjust the hat, just as he had done when they were younger. Dipsy was tempted to smack his hands away, but despite what he had just said, he stayed still and allowed Tinky-Winky to do what he did.

"Come, we have a long way to go, we don't need to waste any more time." Tinky-Winky said, pulling away and heading for the garage door that lead to the outside world.

Dipsy still wasn't sure how he felt about this, following Tinky-Winky off away from his home. He hadn't seriously been away from it in far to long, and the idea of it made him somewhat nervous. However, As they slipped in to the dark ally beside the warehouse and used Tinky-Winky's glowing antenna as a source of light, he couldn't help but remember all of the exciting adventures he had gone on with his siblings as young children during the night. The times they had explored the area around their home, even though the darkness around them made it somewhat frightening. Tinky-Winky had always assured them that he would be right there for them should any of them get to scared. He had always been their guiding light.

The very thought of these memories left a strange, warm and happy feeling deep in Dipsy's tummy, and he followed that low light, wishing to relive the past.

* * *

**I don't see why people don't write serious fanfiction about these fuckers. There will probably be one more chapter after this, if i ever get around to it.**


End file.
